Formalism

When we began to discuss Formalism in class on Thursday, we looked at the poem "We Wear the Mask." I was not aware of the poem before I encountered it in class, and upon my first reading of text, I immediately felt that I could resonate with the content of the poem. I thought the poem to be commenting on the state of society and the idea that we all have pain which we hide from the world. The poem seemed to speak about a universal suffering society endures with a smile, a theme that not only resonated with me, but with my fellow classmates as well.

When we learned the author of the poem was Paul Laurence Dunbar (right), an eminent African-American poet, for many of us the poem took on a deeper meaning. I immediately felt the significance of the poem change for me, from a superficial common suffering to a poem reflecting on the lives of black Americans. There was a disconnect of sorts, in that I felt that I couldn't understand the same pain that Dunbar, as an African-American growing up immediately after the Civil War, experienced during his lifetime.

Therein lies the foundations of Formalist criticism. Why should I feel a disconnect with the poem after learning of its author? Did I not feel the poem resonate with me upon my first reading, when the author and the history behind the poem was yet still unknown? This was a complex issue for me to consider. Throughout my time at Messiah, there has always been an emphasis on the author of a work, and how the historical setting and authorship of a work lends itself to the overall meaning of a text. I have pages upon pages filled in my English notebooks of biographical history, and many of my literature classes were organized by genre. I've taken Modern British Literature, Medieval Renaissance, and Early American Literature, among other lit classes. In each of these class we set the texts with which we engaged in a historical era, reflecting on the significance of time and author.

Now, after beginning to understand a bit of Formalism, I wonder how if these texts would have a different meaning for me had I not known its era, or author, and whether or not these elements ultimately change the significance of a work. Certainly there was a shift in my understanding of "We Wear the Mask", and I believe that at least some of the work I've encountered during my time as an English major would be altered had I been ignorant of its biography.

It will be interesting for me to consider different texts from a Formalist perspective, focusing on the content and form over other parts of a work. While I am not yet sure how much I agree with Formalism, I do believe that it will be beneficial for me to engage in literary works from a different perspective.